But after the event, Rebney told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) the tournament final isn’t yet a lock for the season-ending event.

“My hope is we can do it [on Friday at Bellator 84],” Rebney said after the event, which took place at Caesars Atlantic City in New Jersey. “However, that will depend on a few factors, including Rad and other things. But we hope we can do it.”

Bellator 84 takes place at The Venue at Horseshoe Casino Hammond in Hammond, Ind. It’s Bellator’s final event of 2012 and the last one before the organization moves to Spike TV in January.

Even if the tournament final, which earns the winner $100,000 in total pay and a guaranteed title shot, is delayed and not possible for Bellator 84, it’ll only push it back another month or so since Season 8 is expected to kick off on Jan. 10. Still, Rebney said the commission’s decision to scratch the fight clearly upset the Russian-born Shamhalaev.

Rebney said the New Jersey Athletic Control Board saw Shamhalaev vomit in the locker room. Bad fruit was to blame for the food poisoning, he said.

But Rebney didn’t even know there was a problem until the fight before the scheduled headliner was nearly complete. At that point, a Bellator official found Rebney cageside, and he went to speak with commission representatives.

“The commission ultimately said, ‘We’re not going to let him fight since we’ve seen him vomit twice in the locker room; we’re not going to let a guy who’s vomiting fight regardless if whether it’s food poisoning or any other reason,'” Rebney said.

So with the fight appropriately scratched, Rebney and his team and will work to assure it’ll be part of Friday’s Bellator 84 event, a loaded card that also features the Season 7 heavyweight and lightweight tourney finals.

The Latest

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?

Ronda Rousey’s statistical greatness has already ventured into uncharted territory – just six fights into her UFC career. Check out all the post-fight facts, including Rousey’s latest achievements, about UFC 190.